After a While, You Stop Counting

When McDonalds first got going, it was a small-but-pioneering outfit that was justifiably proud of how many hamburgers it had sold–so much so that it told the world on its famous signs. (Hey, a million burgers was a lot of burgers back then.)

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Wii Netflix Goes Disc-Free, Too

Turns out Nintendo’s Wii is also dropping the disc from Netflix streaming, starting today. Sony simply made its announcement first for the Playstation 3.

Happy Birthday, NES

On October 18th, 1985, the Nintendo Entertainment System made its US debut. By any measure, it was a gigantic success–so much so that it brought the entire video game business out of the doldrums it had been mired in since Atari and other early titans had crashed and burned.

As is our wont, we’re celebrating this anniversary with a guided tour of the console’s history by our favorite technology archaeologist, Benj Edwards.  He spotlights some of the surprising stuff that the NES has inspired–from oddball controllers to some mighty peculiar (but entertaining) do-it-yoursef projects.

View Nintendo Entertainment System Oddities slideshow.

Nintendo Entertainment System Oddities

25 years ago today, Nintendo released the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the US. The iconic console broke sales records, revived the video game industry from the brink of death, and influenced a generation of US kids. It also gave us classic franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Metroid.

You may have read plaudits and platitudes from other publications on this notable anniversary, but we here at Technologizer have decided to forgo dry historical analysis in favor of a look at all things odd in the world of NES. So without further ado, let’s pull back the curtain on our gallery of NES oddities.

Optical Drives: Obsolete? Almost Obsolete? Necessities?

TechCrunch’s MG Siegler says he’s never once used the DVD burner on his MacBook Pro and is therefore excited about the possibility of a superlight, driveless MacBook Air. I keep going back and forth on whether optical drives are superfluous yet: They’re still occasionally handy for installing software, and I still use them to watch movies (or just rip them into a form I can watch on any device). I figure that three years from now, they’ll be quite unusual–but I could be wrong, since I would have guessed three years ago that they’d be almost extinct by late 2010…

Fox (Briefly) Blocks Hulu From Cablevision Customers

Boy, nothing puts in in more of an “a pox on both their houses” mood than when cable operators and content owners drag innocent consumers into their squabbles over money.

iRobot Sneak Peek: JamBots, LanDroids, and TransPhibians

Aside from Dilbert, most cartoon characters don’t get a chance to inspire tech companies. But Rosie the Robot of The Jetsons is definitely an exception, says Colin Angle, the CEO of iRobot. Angle helped to show off robots this week ranging from the company’s Roomba vacuum cleaner and PackBot 510 military robot to squishable JamBots camouflaged to look like an octopus and a crab.

At a tech showcase in New York, Angle contended that he founded iRobot some 20 years ago because the robotics industry had failed to create actual robots that could follow the example set by Rosie, a major player in the 1960s futuristic TV cartoon series.

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Please Explain Why Angry Birds is Addictive

Angry Birds is often described as an addictive game, which helps explain why the full version’s launch for Android phones is big news. Starting today, the game can be downloaded for free through GetJar, a third-party app store, and it’s coming to the Android Market over the weekend.

If you’re one of the folks who’s hooked on Angry Birds — and please don’t take this the wrong way — I don’t understand why. Angry Birds is a clever game, for sure. It has cute characters, elegant design and simple goals. But addictive? I just don’t see it.

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Rumors Crescendo: 11.6″ MacBook Air

A smaller, thinner, cheaper MacBook Air with no moving parts? Sounds like it could be the first Mac to be majorly influenced by the iPad and iPhone…

CarWoo: An Auction for Your Car-Buying Business

Over at Techland, I blogged about CarWoo, a new service that lets car shoppers pay to have dealers bid for their business.

Lexmark’s Genesis is Like a Photo Booth for Your Documents

All of a sudden, ink jet printer companies are trying out some radically new designs–ones that stray far afield from printer form factors that have changed very little over the past fifteen years or so. Last month, HP announced the Envy 100, a low-profile all-in-one that looks rather like a 1980s-era VCR. And now Lexmark is unveiling the Genesis, an unusually high-profile all-in-one. The tall-boy design has a purpose: It permits for a thirty-percent smaller footprint. And Lexmark accomplished it by incorporating a scanner that’s unlike any I’ve seen before.

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Tell Your Tech Tales, Get a Chance at a Big Payoff

A while back I contributed a guest post about the oldest tech product I still use–a 16-year-old pair of Bose speakers–to a site (sponsored by HP) about unexpectedly bountiful returns on investment. Now the site is holding a sweepstakes that invites you to share your own tales of purchases that paid off in ways you didn’t expect. The grand prize is pretty spectacular: a trip for six to the Napa Valley, including flights, accommodations, spa sessions, a wine-country tour, and a balloon ride–and an assortment of HP products for your office.

You can get a shot at these and other prizes by entering here, and the top stories will be shared on the site.

Me, Elsewhere

Are you a fan of NPR’s Science Friday show? I am, and I’m going to be on it today at about 11:40am PT–talking about Google’s self-driving cars. I’m also going to be guesting with Leo Laporte on This Week in Tech this Sunday at 3pm PT, which is always a pleasure…

The New York Times’ New iPad App: More Stuff, But So Safe

At last, the New York Times’ iPad app is complete. Gone is the scant selection of “Editor’s Choice” articles that Steve Jobs reportedly hated, and in its place is pretty much everything that the Times’ website offers.

Just one big catch: The app is loaded with reminders that, come next year, the free ride is over. You already have to set up an account to read most sections. Soon, you’ll need a paid subscription. As a premium package, I don’t think the New York Times app passes muster.

The content’s all there, and that’s wonderful, but the layout lacks imagination. Essentially, it’s NYTimes.com without scrolling. Stories appear in a familiar thumbnail format, sometimes with images, and long articles are spread across several pages, navigated with finger swipes. Embedded video is a nice touch when available, and I like the photo and video galleries. Still, if you’re hoping for a new kind of tablet reading experience, it’s not here.

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The New Quicken is Minty Fresh

You don’t often hear a tech exec responsible for a product say that he hates anything about it, but Intuit’s Aaron Patzer is a special case–his dislike of Quicken spurred him to found the excellent online finance site Mint. When Intuit bought Mint last year, Patzer ended being responsible for both Mint and Quicken. The new version of Quicken, Quicken 2011, is the first one to reflect his influence, and it certainly shows the influence of the more modern Mint.

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Apple and Verizon: Together at Last, Kinda-Sorta

It’s not a Verizon iPhone, but could it be a sign of things to come? Starting on October 28th, Verizon Wireless will be selling Apple’s iPad in its stores. No, Apple hasn’t built an iPad that works on Verizon’s network: Instead, Verizon is bundling the Wi-Fi iPad with a MiFi mobile router that can deliver wireless Internet to the iPad via Wi-Fi. The total prices you’ll pay are the same as for AT&T 3G iPads: $629 for a 16GB iPad, $729 for a 32GB model, and $829 for a 64GB model. 1GB of data costs $20 a month, and I don’t see any mention in the announcement of a contract being required.

Using an iPad with a MiFi is a very viable alternative to buying an AT&T 3G model. I think so, anyhow: It’s what I do. (I use mine with a $60/month Verizon plan that provides me with 5GB of data, enough to let me use my laptop and iPad all I want without worrying about overages.)

I’m not going to puzzle out whether there’s any particular significance to the timing of today’s news, but even the most optimistic of predictions don’t involve Verizon having an iPhone until early 2011. By stocking the iPad this month, it gets an Apple goodie in time for the holidays–and an opportunity to buddy up with Apple fans before it has a phone they’ll want to buy.

In related news: AT&T, which has been powering the iPad’s 3G service but not selling the device itself until now, will begin stocking the tablet on the same day that Verizon stores do.